PROGRESS OF ICHTHYOLOGY. 425 



other branches of natural history, derived incalculable advantages from 

 the more general merits of the illustrious Swede ;" the precision of 

 the characters, the convenience of a well-settled terminology, the facility 

 afforded by the binary nomenclature. These recommendations gave him 

 a pre-eminence which was acknowledged by almost all the naturalists 

 of his time, and displayed by the almost universal adoption of his 

 nomenclature, in zoology, as well as^ in botany ; and by the almost 

 exclusive employment of his distributions of classes, however imperfect 

 and artificial they might be. 



And even ia if Linnaeus had had no other merit than the impulse he 

 gave to the pursuit of natural science, this alone would suffice to 

 immortalize his name. In rendering natural history easy, or at least 

 in making it appear so, he diffused a general taste for it. The great 

 took it up with interest; the young, full of ardor, rushed forwards in 

 all directions, with the sole intention of completing his system. The 

 civilized world was eager to build the edifice which Linnasus had plan- 

 ned. 



This spirit, among other results, produced voyages of natural histori- 

 cal research, sent forth by nations and sovereigns. George the Third 

 of England had the honor of setting the example in this noble career, 

 by sending out the expeditions of Byron, Wallis, and Carteret, in 1765. 

 These were followed by those .of Bougainville, Cook, Forster, and others. 

 Russia also scattered several scientific expeditions through her vast 

 dominions ; and pupils of Linnasus sought the icy shores of Greenland 

 and Iceland, in order to apply his nomenclature to the productions of 

 those climes. But we need not attempt to convey any idea of the 

 vast stores of natural historical treasures which were thus collected 

 from every part of the globe. 



I shall not endeavor to follow Cuvier in giving an account of the 

 o-reat works of natural history to which this accurnulution of materials 

 gave rise ; such as the magnificent work of Bloch on Fishes, which 

 appeared in 1782 1785 ; nor need I attempt, by his assistance, to 

 characterize or place in their due position the several systems of classi- 

 fication proposed about this time. But in the course of these various 

 essays, the distinction of the artificial and natural methods of classifica- 

 tion came more clearly into view than before ; and this is a point sc 

 important to the philosophy of the subject, that we must devote a fev 

 words to it. 



11 Cuyier, p. 85. w Ib. p. 88. 



